Ritsema edited the popular Modern Ways section in the newspaper for two decades, in which she dealt with questions about social interaction in a humorous way. The last regular contribution of the column appeared in last Saturday’s newspaper. Trouw will publish a very last episode that the columnist completed just before her death one of these days.
Editor-in-chief Cees van der Laan calls Ritsema of great importance to the newspaper and its readers. “She was very popular, also for her sometimes very special, contradictory advice.
Discussions over breakfast
According to Van der Laan, Trouw often received feedback from readers that Ritsema’s advice led to discussion at breakfast on Saturday morning. “Her advice made you think and find solutions,” said the editor-in-chief. “Her advice reflected the spirit of the times. With Beatrice we lose a beloved employee, but also a special, honest and pleasant person.”
Ritsema studied psychology at Leiden University. She wrote her first texts in the 1980s for the magazine Propria Cures. After that she was editor-in-chief for Vrij Nederland for many years.
She got the idea for Modern Ways when she lived in Washington for a while and became acquainted with the Miss Manners column of the American journalist Judith Martin. In addition to the regular column in Trouw, Ritsmema also wrote several books on etiquette and social behaviour.
